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American Morning
Jersey Gas Hike; Fuming Over Fuel; Cyber-Stalking; Minding Your Business; Harry's Charity; PGA In New Orleans
Aired April 28, 2006 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Chevron's expected to release its figures sometime before the market opens. Yesterday, ExxonMobil announced more than $8 billion in first quarter profits. Chevron is expected to announce about half that number.
We've been talking about high gas prices, so it shouldn't really come as a shock, still does, though. Imagine waking up and seeing prices jump 14 cents overnight. Carol's got details for us this morning.
Hey, Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, that would wake you up, wouldn't it. If you plan to cruise the Jersey Turnpike or the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, fuel up now. In fact, it might be too late. Get ready for sticker shock. Gas prices going up a whopping 14 cents a gallon today.
Let me spell it out. You will pay $2.90 for a gallon of regular gas. Premium will cost you $3.12 if you drive the Jersey Turnpike. A little known fact, gas stations on the Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway can only raise prices once a week. Last week the went up 17 cents a gallon.
New Jersey's Governor Jon Corzine says he has a plan. New Jersey, oddly enough, is one of two states that prohibit self serve gas stations. You can only get full service. Well, Corzine wants to phase that out to see if it will saves drivers money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JON CORZINE, (D) NEW JERSEY: We will start with select sites, if not on all, of the turnpike positions over a period of time and in some local neighborhoods, north, south and central, to see whether these price savings actually flow through to the consumer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Corzine said it could cut gas prices by as much as 6 cents a gallon. As for the rest of us, Congress is proposing suspending gas taxes and offering rebates. But, frankly, those ideas won't solve the problem in the short term. The Federal Reserve chair, Ben Bernanke, says this. He says, "unfortunately there's nothing, really, that can be done that's going to affect energy prices or gasoline prices in the very short run." Still, lawmakers are scrambling to prove to you they are standing up to big oil if only in words. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat, says, "while Exxon Mobil executives are popping champagne and celebrating their record profits, American families are popping antacids under the strain of searing gas prices."
So the story goes on, Soledad. And, I don't know, Congress is talking.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: But I don't know if they'll actually be able to do anything for consumers in the short term.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The story goes on. The gas prices go up. It's ugly.
All right, Carol, thanks.
And, of course, it doesn't matter if you pump it yourself and have somebody else pump it for you, everybody's still fuming over high gas prices, pointing fingers at big oil, pointing fingers, too, at Washington, D.C. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken joining us live from the nation's capital.
Hey, Bob, good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
And a lot of finger pointing going on here. When in reality, the people who are doing it could probably point the finger at themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN, (voice over): When the Federal Reserve chairman speaks, everyone listens. Even when he states the obvious.
BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Rising energy prices pose a risk to both economic activity and inflation.
FRANKEN: Those rising energy prices are fueled in part by ever rising energy usage. The Fed chairman, for instance, is transported around town in the standard dignitary Cadillac limo. Figure around 16 miles to the gallon. According to published reports, he sold his Toyota Sienna minivan when he took the job. That got about 21 miles per gallon. The spike in energy prices has brought a spike in energy related media events.
REP. DENNIS HASTERT, (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: We've passed legislation time and time again with Democrats blocking it. But that was history. Now this is the future. And we need to move forward.
FRANKEN: But when House Speaker Dennis Hastert joined fellow Republicans at his news conference, he traveled there in a SUV. It gets approximately 15 miles to the gallon. Congressional leaders are driven around in SUVs. The same goes for Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. When some of her fellow Democrats engaged in their own finger-pointing, the reporters had a snarkey question. How had they gotten there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taurus. Ford Taurus. A little two-door -- four-door. It's a four-door. OK. I mean . . .
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: Every one of us drove fuel efficient cars here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here. Wait a second. Hold on. Hold on. Wait. No, no, I ain't doing this. I ain't -- you want to play that game? Chicago CTA Card, public transportation. Washington, D.C. public transportation. Any time you want, anywhere you want to go.
FRANKEN: Maybe so, but the fact is, the parking lots for members of Congress around the Capitol look like gas guzzlers are us, which look like parking lots just about everywhere else in this country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: Well, there's a saying about show business that could probably applying to politics, which is that the key is sincerity. And if you can fake that, you've got it made. I think it applies here.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I would agree with you on that one. Bob Franken for us this morning.
Bob, thanks.
Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN: Happening "In America" now.
Wild cats roaming near Air Force One. At Andrews Air Force Base they're on the look out for a pair of big cats described as either panthers or cougars. One is black, the other brown. An all out search was called off at night fall. Witnesses report large cat sightings all over the base.
A deadly confrontation at Cleveland's Hopkins Airport. A police officer in stable condition this morning. He has a bullet lodged in his back. The man who shot him, Kenneth Callaway, used another officer's gun to shoot the officer. He grabbed it after biting that officer in the neck. A third officer killed Callaway. Unclear what sparks that confrontation at a ticket counter.
Two families in Massachusetts suing over a gay themed story book. It's about two princes who fall in love. The story was read to a second grade class. Families claim school officials broke state law and violated their civil rights for trying to teach their children about a lifestyle they consider immoral. The school's superintendent says the school didn't do anything illegal.
Allegations of racism leading to a suspension of funding for youth baseball teams in Lafayette, Alabama. Parents and coaches are complain about two teams. One is almost entirely white. The other African-Americans. The coaches and those teams in the Dixie Youth League say it's just a coincidence. The city council is considering what to do about the makeup of those teams.
Interstate 95, main thorough fare in the East Coast, near Cape Canaveral in Florida, just reopened a short while ago. Florida highway patrol shut it down after a brush fire jumped the highway. You see the pictures. The 850-acre fire mostly under control this morning. No reports of any injuries.
Reynolds Wolf, they need some rain in Florida, don't they?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, they're desperate for it, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: A disturbing story to share with you this morning and one that's, unfortunately, becoming a little too common these days. It's called cyber-stalking. And, of course, it can put unsuspecting people in a pretty big danger. Deb Feyerick joins us this morning to fill us in.
Is this something new?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not something new but it's definitely something that's on the rise. Anyone can be a cyber- stalker, anyone can be a victim. As a matter of fact, in 50 percent of all cases, it's a total stranger. And what starts as a prank can sometimes turn very dangerous.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK, (voice over): Last September, out of nowhere, Claire Miller began getting obscene phone calls and sexually explicit e- mails. She shrugged it off but then strange men started ringing her doorbell.
CLAIRE MILLER, CYBER-STALKING VICTIM: There were some scarier ones that showed up very late at night.
FEYERICK: What are they telling you?
MILLER: That I'd set up a date with them online.
FEYERICK: Online on a hard core adult website. Someone had posted a personal ad pretending to be Claire Miller. It revealed where she lived and how to reach her and said she was into swingers, group sex and erotic e-mails. Miller, a publishing executive, is being cyber-stalked. She has no idea who it is or why they're doing it and says she has never posted her personal details on any website. She agreed to speak with me only on conditions she disguise herself so the stalker won't know what she really looks like.
This must be so frightening to look yourself up and see that somebody's put you on something like this. JAYNE HITCHCOCK, CREATOR, HALT ONLINE ABUSE: Oh, yes, I would be frightened.
FEYERICK: After being victimized herself, Jayne Hitchcock created the group Working to Halt Online Abuse or WHO@ for short.
HITCHCOCK: I call it Internet road rage where for whatever reason, just like offline road rage where somebody just snaps and starts chasing somebody down the information superhighway.
FEYERICK: Noone keeps official statistics on cyber-stalking. But Hitchcock says she gets about 50 new calls a week.
How difficult is it to get your identity back once it is posted on an adult website or some place else like that?
KEVIN BARROWS, RENAISSANCE ASSOCIATES: Well, to get it back, it's virtually impossible.
FEYERICK: Former FBI Agent Kevin Barrows investigates computer crimes.
What is it about the Internet that makes people think they can do this and get away with it?
BARROWS: They don't have to sit in front of someone's house and watch them. All you do is type a few keys and hit send.
FEYERICK: Which raises the question, who's doing it?
HITCHCOCK: These are normal, everyday people. Their professionals. They're usually white collar. Don't have criminal records.
FEYERICK: Do they see themselves as cyber-stalkers?
BARROW: I don't believe so. In my experience, I think that they see themselves as getting back, getting revenge.
FEYERICK: As for Claire Miller, she still doesn't know who's harassing her, though she thinks it may be someone connected to an old high school friend.
If you could say anything to this person, what would you say to them?
MILLER: Stop. Stop now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now, there are no official statistics on how many cyber-stalkers are actually out there, but Hitchcock says she gets 50 new calls a day.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh.
FEYERICK: And the problem's getting so serious that more than 45 states now have laws making cyber-stalking a crime.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's a crime, but what are the penalties for it?
FEYERICK: It all depends. It all depends on how threatening the e-mails get. Somebody may just think they're being funny, so they're e-mailing people online. But when you post somebody's personal information on some of these websites, it's very, very dangerous.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: But is it illegal to be the conduit? You know, if you post and say, go and check out her apartment. I mean she gets 50 people a day who, you know, if that -- if the first cyber-stalker sets up something that happens later.
FEYERICK: And that's one of the nuances and that's what got to be determined. Are you going to be charged as an accessory to some sort of a crime if somebody shows up and your door and it turns very dangerous or very violent. Claire Miller was lucky that none of these guys actually hurt her. That they realized that something wrong had happened and they just walked away, they left.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh, my God, how awful. How awful.
FEYERICK: Scary.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Fifty a day.
FEYERICK: Yes.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That's terrible. Deb Feyerick. Thank you, Deb.
Of course, Deb's report first aired on "Paula Zahn Now." And you can see more with Paula on weeknights at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" just ahead.
Hey, Andy, what's coming up?
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Soledad, some music to Howard Stern's ears. Major static at CBS Radio, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: CBS without Howard Stern. How's it going? Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" and really their business this morning.
Good morning.
SERWER: Yes, Soledad, not to well for CBS. I mean, we knew this when Howard Stern left and David Lee Roth came on to replace him, it became clear right away that it really wasn't cutting it. And yesterday we found out exactly to what extent because CBS reported earnings and their radio group numbers were very poor. Revenues down 6 percent, operating net income down 14 percent.
They didn't get into really why that was. But David Lee Roth's show was on for the past three months and the quarter was really bad.
MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, bad hair day there, by the way.
SERWER: Yes. Oh.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That's (INAUDIBLE).
MILES O'BRIEN: Who was that?
SERWER: Go ahead and jump, you know? And he didn't jump. He was tossed. He was canned. He was booted.
MILES O'BRIEN: There he is.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Jump.
SERWER: And jump. And now they're replacing him with -- that was a good moment in rock and roll, actually.
MILES O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, that was quite a move.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That's hard to do.
MILES O'BRIEN: He can kind of move there.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes.
MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: There was no editing involved, perhaps.
MILES O'BRIEN: Perhaps.
SERWER: Opie and Anthony are replacing him. And they already have. And, of course, these guys are raunchy shock jocks.
MILES O'BRIEN: Live from Saint Patrick's Cathedral, right?
SERWER: Yes, exactly.
MILES O'BRIEN: So to speak.
SERWER: They got thrown out for doing a raunchy skit about Saint Patrick's Cathedral and now they've been brought back in. Meanwhile, Les Moonves, the head of CBS, is says that, yes, this is a business that needs to improve and maybe we are even going to sell these radio stations. So the thing about David Lee Roth is, you know, now he can go back to being just a gigolo full-time.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: No, he's an EMT.
SERWER: Oh, he is?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: He's busy. So he can't be a gigolo full time.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: He's an EMT.
SERWER: Right? He's an EMT. Oh, that's true?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: He's really an - - yes, he is.
SERWER: That's so wild.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.
SERWER: Could you imagine.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Now he can go back to doing . . .
MILES O'BRIEN: He really is?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, I'm not kidding.
MILES O'BRIEN: I mean this is for real?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: This is completely for real. He's an EMT.
SERWER: We should do something. We should check him out and get him on the -- no we shouldn't.
MILES O'BRIEN: No, no, let's not.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Pass out and maybe he'll drive by to revive you.
SERWER: No. No, that will be you. I couldn't do that.
MILES O'BRIEN: We only have four hours. We don't have time for David Lee Roth, believe me.
SERWER: Yes.
MILES O'BRIEN: All right. Well Princess Diana would have been proud. That is what is being said about Prince Harry's new venture in Africa. He start his own charity aimed at helping children affected by the growing AIDS epidemic on the continent. Jeff Koinange joining us from London today. Spends most of his time on that continent as a matter of fact.
Jeff, good to see you.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Miles. Good morning.
Well, Miles, Prince Harry is barely 21 years old, fresh off of a stint at the royal military college here in the U.K. And his first personal tour of duty is to go back to a place he first visited two years ago and really fell in love with. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE, (voice over): Prince Harry has traveled the world and met tens of thousands of people. Some very important. But he has not forgotten the children he met at this tiny mountain kingdom nearly two years ago. Children like six-year-old Mutsu Potsane who lived in the AIDS orphanage in the country's capital Maseru.
PRINCE HARRY, UNITED KINGDOM: It's really good to see him. I think he remembers me. His English is still as good or as bad as it used to be. But to see so many new kids here is nice in a way to know that they're being looked after. But, at the same time, more kids are coming in which is a problem.
KOINANGE: Lesotho has one of the highest HIV rates in the world. Twenty-nine of the adults in a country with just over 2 million people. The young prince has teamed up with Lesotho's prince, Seeiso Bereng Seeiso. Their message -- AIDS is real and does not discriminate. Together they hope to prevent the spread of a disease that's decimated entire households in Lesotho.
PRINCE SEEISO BERENG SEEISO, LESOTHO: Parents are dying. Both spouses are dying. We have so many double orphans in this country. And a 14-year-olds, a 13-year-olds, you wouldn't be surprised to be heading a household.
KOINANGE: In 2004, the two princes worked with the British Red Cross to set up a fund that has since raised nearly $2 million. Now, in an effort to call more attention to the pandemic in Lesotho, they've formed a new charity this week, Sentebale, a local Lesotho word meaning forget-me-not. It's going to take a concerted effort to help stamp out the scourge in a nation where one in three are said to be HIV positive.
PRINCE HARRY: As far as I'm concerned, I'll be here, come do visits as much as I can to come and see my good friends Seeiso, to come and see all the kids.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE: Now, Miles, as you well know, AIDS in Africa was a very important issue for Prince Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana. It seems like the young man is turning out to be every bit an officer and a gentleman, picking up where his mother left off.
Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN: Jeff Koinange at Buckingham Palace. Thank you very much, sir.
Be sure to tune in to CNN this weekend for a very special event. Former President Clinton and our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, team up for "The End of AIDS, a CNN Global Summit." It comes your way Saturday and Sunday night 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, you might be fed up with high gas prices. Ahead this morning, though, we talked to a gas station owner. He saying, frankly, prices aren't high enough. We'll explain.
And we'll take you next to New Orleans. It's really the next stop on the road to recovery there. The golf course figuring in heavily. We'll explain that as well. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Golf's return to New Orleans is another sign of progress on what's sure to be a long road back from Hurricane Katrina. This weekend, many of the world's top players are going to lend their talents to the city's hurricane recovery efforts. CNN's Sean Callebs is live for us in New Orleans.
Hey, Sean, good morning.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Look behind me. You see the dew lined grass and the driving range. Well, it's hard to believe that in the days and weeks after Hurricane Katrina, this was a staging area for the military and the New Orleans police special ops unit. Well, there's no question it's undergone a tremendous overhaul in the past several months. And really what happens here over the next few days is going to be very important to the city.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS, (voice over): Believe it or not, this is New Orleans. So is this. And while crews were digging out and even looking for bodies in parts of the city, some of the best groundskeepers around the country were working to restore English Turn, host of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans golf tournament this weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks. Appreciate it.
DAVID TOMS, PRO GOLFER: You're welcome.
CALLEBS: David Toms is among the top 10 golfers in the world. He's also from Louisiana and wants to give Katrina weary locals a chance to have fun.
TOMS: And bring some joy maybe back to their life a little bit. Get them excited to go outside and take part in recreation and try to forget their troubles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's another set of sky boxes.
CALLEBS: Dennis McGrail is the club pro at English Turn. He evacuated to Arkansas before the storm. The course wasn't flooded, but it was hit hard by hurricane winds. When McGrail returned, he couldn't believe the damage. DENNIS MCGRAIL, CLUB PRO, ENGLISH TURN: Completely stunned. The greens were, like you said, brown as can be. Trees, debris, parts of houses, chimneys laying all over the golf course.
CALLEBS: McGrail says the transformation is amazing. This weekend, the nation will see plush, well manicured fairways and greens. No one believes it fairly represents the rest of this region, but tourism is the economic lifeline here.
MCGRAIL: And we'd like to show the rest of the world that we're back up and running and it's a safe place to bring your conventions and the hotels are open and the restaurants are up and welcome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please welcome Mr. David Toms.
CALLEBS: Even Toms was surprised by the progress he found.
TOMS: It seemed to me like it was more business as usual than I thought it would be. It looks like they're steadily trying to get back and they've got a long way to go, obviously.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLEBS: Indeed, a long way to go. But a big part of that recovery is a return to normalcy. They expect about 150,000 people here over the four days if the weather holds out. And, Soledad, they say they most of those people are going to be from along the Gulf Coast, just make the short trip here. So they're looking forward to having a few days to kick back and not think about digging out, cleaning up and just enjoying the conditions out here.
Soledad.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, that would be a nice little break.
Let me ask you a question, though. It looks great behind you. I mean it looks really beautiful and it looks like a really expensive renovation. Who paid for it?
CALLEBS: Shhh. Yes, that's a good question. It wasn't public money. It came chiefly from private entities and also all the greenskeepers that basically descended on this area and brought it back. They came from other PGA courses. They basically volunteered their time. The PGA president, Tim Finchem, early on decided they were going to make this tournament one of the show pieces of the tour this year to try and show the commitment to this area and the commitment to this region coming fully back.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Sean Callebs for us this morning. Sean, thanks. Tough assignment on the golf course this morning.
A short break. We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MILES O'BRIEN: New developments in the Duke rape case. An old police report surfaces. Some surprising similarities to the current case.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: A brutal attack to tell you about in Texas. The word is the victim was trying to kiss a girl, or was it a hate crime? There are the suspects. The teenager is near death. We'll tell you about this terrible attack.
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